Cigarette tobacco feeding method and machine



Nov. 21, 1933. A. PODMORE 1,935,665

CIGARETTE TOBACCO FEEDING METHOD AND MACHINE Original Filed Nov. 21,1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 [42 v 4/40 ML Nov. 21, 1933. A. PODMORE 1,935,665

CIGARETTE TOBACCO FEEDING METHOD AND MACHINE Original Filed Nov. 21, 2 5Sheets-Sheet 2 mgl INVZNTOR BY WM A ORNEY Nov. 21, 1933.

Original Filed Nov. 21, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig.5

INVENTOR Paiented Nov. 21 1933 v PATENT OFFICE CIGARETTE TOBACCO FEEDINGMETHOD AND MACHINE Arthur Podmore, London, .England, assignor toAmerican Machine & Foundry Company, a cor-.

poration of New Jersey Application November21, 1928, Serial No. 320,87

' Renewed August 3, 1932 ,8 Claims. (Cl. 131-39) This invention relatesto an improvedmethod and apparatus for feeding tobacco to continuous rodcigarettelmachines. Hitherto, despite a great deal of effort directedtoward obtaining uniform 5 cigarettes, substantial differences in theweights and density of the cigarettes produced during one run of a givenmachine have been common, "these differences sometimes amounting to 10%or even more in the weight of the cigarettes.

Generally, in machines of this type, a sheet of tobacco is fed fromamass and the tobacco is disentangled and discharged from this sheet tothe rod forming means of the cigarette machine. Part of this variationin cigarette Weight and density is due to lack of uniformity in thissheet.

The main purpose of this invention is to obtain greater uniformity inthis sheet of tobacco, especially in sheet density. Thus, one object ofthe invention is to level off 'excess tobacco from the mass above thefilling position of the feeding means to thereby initially suppressinaccuracies of densitydue to varying weights and thickness of tobaccoat this position. Another important object is to provide for correctingplus or minus errors in density of the initially corrected sheet.Another object is to provide means for tamping out voids or air pocketsin the layer of tobacco above the filling position of the -feeding,meanswhile subjecting all parts of this layer tothe same pressure. I H Withthese and other objects in view, themvention consists in certainconstructions and combinations which will be hereinafter fully describedand then set forth in the hereunto appended claims. F

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of this'specification andin which like characters of reference indicate the same or like parts:Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation ofa machine illustrating theimproved method and apparatus for feeding tobacco; Fig. 2 is a frontelevation, partly broken away, of the machine shown in Fig. 1, seen fromthe left hand side of Fig. 1; v 1

Figs. 3 and 4 are left and right hand side elevations, partly brokenaway, of the machine shown in Fig. 1; Y Fig. 5 is a plan view of themachine shown in Fig.- 1, with the side frames and drives omitfto thespecific method and, apparatus illustrated wherein a sheet of tobacco isprogressively formed from a mass of tobacco, and any excess tobacco near'where the sheet is formed is raked back over the masssoas t'o'initially govern the'density of the. sheet; and wherein plus or minusinaccuracies of sheet density are corrected by sub-. jecting the sheetto the action of an auxiliary supply of tobacco which furnishesadditional to bacco to compensate for minus inaccuracies and which isarranged to absorb tobacco from the sheet to compensate for plusinaccuracies; and wherein tobacco is disentangle'd and discharged fromthe corrected sheet to furnish a uniform stream of tobacco to the rodforming means of the cigarette machine. In the apparatus selected tocarry the invention into effect, there is pro vided means forprogressively. forming a sheet of tobacco from a mass, means forperiodically raking excess tobacco back over the mass to initiallygovern the density of the sheet, means for causing an auxiliary supplyof tobacco to furnish additional' tobaccoto said sheet to compensate.for minus inaccuracies of sheet density and to absorb tobacco from saidsheet to compensate for plus inaccuracies of sheet'density, togetherwith means for disentangling .and discharging tobacco from the correctedsheet in order to provide a'uniform stream of tobacco. Preferably, thesheetforming means will also include tampers ,coacting with said rakingmean's to eliminate air pockets and otherwise govern the initialdensity, of the sheet. in the best constructions also, the sheet formingmeans willinclude a feed drum, supporting the mass of tobacco. Thesevarious stepsand parts may be widely varied in construction within thescope of theclaims, for theparticular machine selected to illustrate theinventionjis but one of many possible concrete embodiments of the same.The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted and described. sReferring to the drawings, the supply of tobacco T in the casing 10 issupported, as shown in Fig. 1, on a relatively large main feed drum 17provided with the usual card pins, the tobacco supply being retained onthe drum by an inclined wall 16 and by the sidewalls of the casing. Thisretaining wall is pivotally mounted between the sidewalls ofthe casingwith its lower end adjacent the surface of the main feed drum, and ismade adjustable so that it can be set at the proper angle to suit thequality and condition of the to.- bacco used The casing 10 issuitablysupported by frames Hand 12 connected by a tie rod 15 and supported onpedestals 13- and 14. Above the feed drum 17, and beyond a verticalplane through its axis, is positioned a filling drum 18 which cooperateswith the feed drum to form a sheet of tobacco thereon from the supply oftobacco resting on the feed drum and to brush back surplus tobacco.

For the purpose of compensating any plus orminus inaccuracies in thedensity of the sheet of tobacco on the drum to fill or brush offrespectively areas containing more or less than the proper amount oftobacco, a second'filler drum l9 spaced beyond the filler drum 18 alongthe peripheral surface of the feed drum 17, is provided. This secondfiller drum maintains an auxiliary supply of tobacco in the anglebetween it and the feed drum, as shown in Fig. 1. This auxiliary supplywill be slowly rotated by the rubbing and rolling action of the feeddrum and the filler drum 19, and in case of a plus inaccuracy in thedensity of. the sheet of tobacco on the feed drum, the excess tobacco;which by reason of the spaced relationship of drums 19 and 18 has hadopportunity to expand through the springiness of the tobacco, will berubbed or brushedioff and absorbed by the auxiliary supply. On the otherhand, if there is a minus inaccuracy in the sheet of tobacco passing outfrom under the filler drum 18,

this auxiliary supply resting and rubbing 'on the 'tampers 29 arepositioned along the width of the drum and arealternately lifted andlowered on to the tobacco to rest thereon by gravity by any suitablemeans such as those which will presently be "described.

Theflayer of tobacco between the tampers and the feed drum is levelledoff and maintained approximately uniform at all times in thickness bymeansofa series of oscillating rakes 32 mounted on a crank operatedshaft 33', to thereby initially control the density. of thetobacco sheetby con trolling the weight and thickness of the tobacco above thefilling position ,of the drum; Coacting with the oscillating rakes' is aseries of rotating rakes 34 mounted on alrotating shaft'35.

shown in Fig. 6, while the tampers 29 are being lifted and after theyhave reached the position 29 as shown in Fig. 6, the oscillating rakes'32 move from the'positionnear the drum 18 toward the inclined'wall 16,thus levelling olf and raking back excess tobacco on the tampers andalso acting to keep the tampers free frorn'loose tobacco. When thetampers are in lowered position, they rest by their own weight on thetobacco and, consequently, each tamper exerts the same pressure, eventhough the thickness of the tobacco under the tampers is unequal. Therakes 32 are so spaced-that in their operation every other rake elementpasses through one of the spaces between two successive tampers 29,while the alternate rake elements pass through the slots 86 in thetampers. The rotating rake elements 34 in the'position 34". (Fig. 6),enter between the oscillating rake elements 32 when the latter are inposition 32, thus coacting with said: oscillating rakes to receivetobacco therefrom and advance it still farther away from the fillingposition of the drum 17. The rakes 34 are mounted in pairs, each pairpassing through one of the spaces between the tamper mounting bars whichare fulcrumed on a shaft 31.

As will be seen from Fig. 1, the combined effect of the main feed drum17, the filler drum 18, and the rakes 32 and 34 will be to slowly rotatethe .tobacco supply T resting on the feed drum, in

tangential contact therewith.

The driving means for the above described parts are mounted on the sideframes 11 and 12. A main drive shaft 36 which is connected with thedrive of the cigarette machine or with a separate motor by a chain 3'7and a sprocket 38, is provided with a gear 39 in mesh with a gear 40 ona shaft 41. On the other end of shaft 41 is a sprocket 42 which isconnected with a sprocket 43 by a chain 44 and this sprocket drives theshaft 45 located in a housing 46. A shaft 47 mounted in the housing isprovided with a worm wheel 48 driven by a worm 49 on a shaft 45.

Worm 50 on the shaft 47 drives a worm wheel 51 on'th e feed drum shaft52 carried by bearings 53 and 54. On the end of the shaft 52 is mounteda sprocket '55 which, by means of a chain 56 running over sprockets 5'7on shaft 58 and sprocket 59 on shaft 60, drives the filling drums 18 and19 on the last two shafts. Thedrum 20 is driven by a belt 63 which runsover the pulley 64 on the shaft 41 and over a pulley 65 on a shaft 66 inthe housing 6'7. In the housing 6'7 is a shaft 68 carrying a worm wheel69 driven by a worm '70 from the shaft 66. A worm '71 on the shaft 68meshes with a worm wheel '72 on the feed drum shaft '73 in bearings '74and '75. w

The shaft 33 carrying the rakes 32 is mounted in brackets '76 and '77 onangle pieces '78 and '79, and is oscillated by means of a lever 87connected by a link 88 to a crank 89 on one end of a short shaft 83, theother end of which shaft mounts a crank 82 carrying one end of the crankshaft 81. Also mounted on this shaft 83 is a sprocket 90 connected by achain 91 to a sprocket 92 on shaft 35 carrying the rotating rakes 34.

The tamper-s 29'are lifted and lowered by flexible chains 80, theupperlinks of which ride on the crank shaft 81 supported at one end oncrank 82 carried by said shaft 83 mounted in bearing bracket 85, and atthe other end on crank 82, the latter crank-being mounted on a shortshaft 84 in bearing bracket 85. Thisshaft 84, which carries acounterweight 112 to "balance the weight of shaft 81 and the partscarried thereby, is driven by a sprocket 93 and a chain 94. The chain 94runs over sprocket 95 on a shaft 96 which also carries'a sprocket 9'7,having on it a chain 98 running over sprockets 99' and 100 supported onshafts 101 and 102 respectively, and over a sprocket. 103 on a shaft104. On the shaft 36 is 1 mounted a sprocket 105 connected by a chain106 with a sprocket 107 on a shaft 108, which also carries anothersprocket 109 operating on the 'chain'94 by means of a chain 110 runningover sprocket 109 and sprocket 111 on shaft 102, the sprocket 111 beingfixed with respect to sprocket 100 and thus driving chains 98 and 94from the main shaft 36.

. The tobacco shreds adhering to the filler drums 18 and 19 are removedby conventional wiper rolls 21 and 22 on shafts 113 and 114 mounted inadjustable bearings 115 and 116. The wiper rolls are driven by suitablemeans, .such' as motor 117 driving a belt 118 and a pulley 119 on apicker roll. shaft 120 bearings 121 andprovidedwith a double pulley 122which connects the pulleys 123'and 124 through belts 125 and 126respectively. i I I x The uniform sheet of tobacco on thefeed drum 130exert tension on levers 129011 the studs 128 drum.

and thus yieldingly press the comb against the As an additionalprecaution to average up the stream of tobacco from adjacent parts of'the sheet formed on the feed drum 17, the tobacco after being pickedfrom the drum 17- by picker roll 25 on the shaftl20, is showered uponthe vertical glass wall 27 and thence rebounds on a limited portion ofthe periphery of the feed drum 20. Thislayeris held against the feeddrum 20 by a comb 24 mounted on studs 132 of a bar 133 and pressedagainst the drum by springs 135, just prior to being showered by thepicker roll 26 on the shaft 136 into the delivery chute 28 which leadsto the rod forming mechanism of the cigarette machine.

It is obvious that this second feeding and picking may be dispensed within the practice of the invention and the tobacco discharged from thedrum 17 may be fed directly, or .by suitable conveying means to thechute leading to the rod forming mechanism.

The picker roll shaft 136 is mounted in bearings 137 on the frames 11and 12 and driven directly from the motor 117 by a belt 138 running overpulleys 139 and 140. The delivery chute 28 is supported by screws 141 inthe arms of bearings 142 supporting a shaft 143 having knocker means 144for vibrating the chute. 143 is driven by a pulley 145, belt 146 andpulley 147. a

In view of the foregoing, further description of the operation of theimproved method and apparatus for feeding tobacco is deemed unnecessaryand is omitted'for the sake of brevity.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cigarette machine feed, the combination with tampers operatingon tobacco, of oscillating rakes and c'oacting rotary rakes for rakingexcess tobacco away from said tampersone of i said'rakes having prongsentering between the ternately lifting said tampers and lowering them onto the tobacco to rest thereon by gravity alone to cause the tampers toexert equal pressure along the length of the row while accommodatingthemselves to unequal thicknesses of tobacco.

3. In a cigarette machine feed, the combination with tampers foroperating on tobacco, of means flexibly connected to the tampers foralternately lifting said tampers and lowering them to rest by gravity onthe tobacco.

4. In a cigarette machine feed, the combination with tampers foroperating on tobacco, of means flexibly connected to the tampers foralternately lifting said tampers and lowering them to rest by gravity onthe tobacco, said means comprising a crank shaft above said tampers andflexible members connecting said shaft and said tampers.

5. In a cigarette machine feed, the combination with a rotating cardedfeed drum, of means for retaining a mass of tobacco on said feed drum,

The shaft a rotating carded filling drum-above said feed drum andcooperating therewith to form a :sheet of tobacco thereon from saidmass, a rotating carded compensating drum arranged to maintain anauxiliary supply of tobacco in contact with the sheet formed on the feeddrum to compensate plus or minus inaccuracies in the sheet,-meansoperating to remove tobacco from the filling drum and compensating drumand return it respectively to the mass and auxiliary supply, and apicker roll for disentangling anddischarging tobacco from the correctedsheet, the compensating drum being substantially spaced from the fillingdrum, whereby excess tobacco inthe sheet may expand While the sheet iscarried from the filling drum to the compensating drum and be rubbed orbrushed oif and absorbed by said auxiliary supply of tobacco.

' 6. In a cigarette machine feed, the combination with a rotating cardedfeed drum, of means for retaining a mass of tobacco on said feed drum, arotating carded filling drum above said feed drum and cooperatingtherewith to form a sheet of tobacco thereon from said mass, a rotatingcarded compensating drum arranged to maintain an auxiliary supply oftobacco in contact with the sheet formed on the feed drum to compensateplus or minus inaccuracies in the sheet, means operating to removetobacco from the filling drum and compensating drum and return itrespectively to the mass and auxiliary supply, and a picker roll fordisentangling and discharging tobacco from the corrected sheet, thecompensating drum being substantially spaced from the filling drum,whereby excess tobacco in the sheet may expand while the sheet iscarried from the filling drum to the compensating drum and be rubbed orbrushed off and absorbed by said auxiliary supply of tobacco, spacedslotted tampers, resting on the mass of tobacco in front of the 115filling drum, spaced oscillating rakes entering into said slots andbetween the tampers for levelling off the layer of tobacco between thetampers and the feed drum and raking back loose tobacco delivered on thetampers by said-means.

7. In a cigarette machine feed, the combination with a rotating cardedfeed drum, of means for retaining a mass of tobacco on said feed drum,

.a rotating carded filling drum above said feed drum and cooperatingtherewith to form a sheet of tobacco thereon from said mass, a rotatingcarded compensating drum arranged to maintain an auxiliary supply oftobacco in contact with the sheet formed on thefeed drum to compensateplus or minus inaccuracies in the sheet, means operating to removetobacco from the filling drum and compensating drum and return itrespectively to the mass and auxiliary supply, and a picker roll fordisentangling and discharging tobacco w from the corrected sheet, thecompensating drum being substantially spaced from the filling drum,

whereby excess tobacco in the sheet may expand while the sheet iscarried from the filling drum iing rakes and advancing it still fartheraway from the filling drum.

8. In a cigarette machine feed, the combination with a rotating cardedfeed drum, of means for retaining a mass of tobacco on said feed drum,

a rotating carded filling drum above said feed drum and cooperatingtherewith to form a sheet of tobacco thereon from said mass, a rotatingcarded compensating drum, arranged to maintain an auxiliary supply oftobacco in contact with'the sheet formed on the feed drum to compensateplus or minus inaccuracies in the sheet,

means operating to remove tobacco from the fillmay expand while thesheet is carried from the filling drum to the compensating drum and berubbed or brushed ofi and absorbed by said auxiliary supply of tobacco,spaced slotted tampers resting on the mass of tobacco in front of thefilling drum, spaced oscillating rakes entering into said slots andbetweenthe tampers for levelling off the layer of tobacco between thetampers and the feed drum and raking back loose tobacco delivered on thetampers by saidmeans, and spaced rotary rakes entering between thetampers and oscillating rakes and receiving tobacco from the oscillatingrakes and advancing it still farther away from the filling drum andmechanism for actuating said oscillating and rotating rakes andalternately lifting said tampers and lowering them to rest by gravity onthe tobacco.

ARTHUR PODMORE.

